This strikes me as one of those fossilized forms, like “methinks”
or “meseems,” that now seem archaic. “If you please,”
while not so archaic, has a very formal feel to it. All the OED says of
it is
b. To be pleased,
to like; to have the will or desire; to have the inclination or disposition; to
think proper; to choose. Chiefly Sc.in earlier use.
Equivalent in sense to the passive in sense 4b.
Chiefly used in constructions where the desirable action or state
is implied or understood; now rarely with this expressed by an infinitive
clause.
I don’t think the “you” is like the “me,”
though, an archaic preverbal indirect object. Rather, as the OED
indicates, the active has taken on the meaning of the passive.
Herb
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott
Sent: 2008-04-27 10:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: RSVP
Enclosed is a comment
extracted from another list. I would appreciate the comments of other
grammarians on the two questions posed.
1. (But do
you really think "you" in phrases like "if you please" can
be called a direct object? This construction is at least 500 years
old.
2. (Would
"if you like" be the same?)
Scott Catledge
Professor Emeritus
history & languages
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